1063... 



Author . 



Title 



Imprint. 



16— 47S72-2 GFO 



Red River Colony 



COMPLIMENTS OF THE 
AUTHOR. 



THE 



Red River Colony 



Augustus L Chetlain. 



'^-&^'L^' 



CHICAGO, ILL.: 
1S93. 



In £xcli« 

Wis. Hist Sooir. 



PRESS OF 

ROGERSON & STOCKTON 

CHICAGO 



fio'. 






^ 



I hear the tread of pioneers, 

Of nations yet to be, 
The first low wash of waves where soon 

Shall roll a human sea. 

— Whit tier. 



PREFACE. 

In 1S7S I wrote a sketch of the Red River 
colony, which was published in the December num- 
ber of Harper s Montlily Magazine of that year. I 
had with difficulty obtained the facts given, as nothing 
written or printed could be found relating to the events 
that occurred at the Red River settlement between 
1816 and 1830. I had to rely on such facts as could 
be gathered from living members of the colony. I 
was indebted to my mother, (who died in 1887 at the 
age of 88 years), whose memory was clear and correct 
for most of the facts directly connected with the colony 
given in the following sketch, which is substantially the 
same as that published by the Harpers. I have added 
a portion of the Earl of Selkirk's statement, prepared 
by him after his return to England from the set- 
tlement in 1816, and published in London in 1818. 
That the reader may have a correct idea of the 
unfortunate condition of affairs in the settlement from 
181 1 to 1816, this interesting little history is put in 
this form to be placed in the hands of the descend- 
ants of that brave band of emigrants, that they may 
not in the future be ignorant of the hardships their 
ancestors endured when voyaging from the fertile 
valleys and vine-clad slopes of the Jura to seek new 
homes on the inhospitable plains of the far-off Rupert 
Land. 

A. L. Chetlain. 

Chicago, Ills., April, 1893. 



SCALE or JflLPS 




1^ ^?>^, 



MAPOF UCIHiON BAY AflD TUK TKEBITOUY WltoTVV;! 



RED RIVER COLONY. 

The exhaustion of material forces by the 
Napoleonic wars, which at their close at Water- 
loo had enfeebled almost to the last gasp all 
the powers that had been engaged in them, 
had effects equally powerful upon the social 
conditions of Europe. In this last phase, 
indeed, the most deplorable results are seen. 
The populations which had been reduced by 
losses in battle and by disease were disheart- 
ened, disorganized, impoverished. Successful 
business enterprises, public and private, which 
alone can restore confidence and happiness in 
such a conjuncture, were impossible and unat- 
tempted. Manufacturing industries at first lan- 
guished, then ceased to exist. To crown all 
these miseries, the untimely and excessive rains 
in the summer of 1816 had so damaged the 
crops that a general famine was apprehended. 
The expense and difficulty of transportation 

7 



enhanced the cost of all necessaries of life. 
The price of grain rose to an unprecedented 
height, and the poorer classes suffered for the 
want of bread. In Switzerland the distress 
was greater than in any other part of Central 
Europe, and the people, wearied of struggles 
which resulted in their own impoverishment, 
listened eagerly to the story of a peaceful and 
more prosperous country beyond the sea. 

A few years earlier, Thomas Dundas, Earl 
of Selkirk, a distinguished Scotch nobleman of 
great wealth, had purchased from the Hud- 
son Bay Company a large tract of land in 
British America, extending from the Lake of 
the Woods and the Winnipeg River west- 
ward for nearly 200 miles, and from Lakes 
Winnipeg and Manitoba to the United States 
boundary, part of which tract is now embraced 
in the province of Manitoba, and in which are 
the fertile lands bordering on the Red and 
Assiniboine rivers. It formed a part of 
"Rupert Land," named in honor of Prince 
Rupert, or Robert, of Bavaria, a cousin of King 
Charles II. of England, and one of the found- 
ers and chief managers of the Hudson Bay 
Company. Rupert Land was somewhat indefi- 
nite in extent, embracing all that portion of 
British America that poured its waters into 
Hudson Bay, and was drained chiefly by the 



Great Whale, Rupert, Abbitibbe, Albany, 
Severn, Winnipeg, Red, Assiniboine, Sas- 
katchewan and Churchill rivers. In extent it 
was almost equal to the United States prior 
to its accessions after the close of the Mexi- 
can war. It was the original purpose of Lord 
Selkirk to settle these lands with colonists from 
Scotland. In the year 1811 he had succeeded 
in planting a large colony of Presbyterians 
from the north of Scotland and a few from 
the north of Ireland on the Red River, near 
its junction with the Assiniboine. This was 
followed, four years later, by two more, but 
smaller colonies from the same section of Scot- 
land. In consequence of the stubborn compe- 
tition and the bitter dissensions between the 
Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Com- 
pany of Montreal, these colonists were com- 
pelled to abandon their new homes, nearly all 
of them removing to Lower Canada, where 
they believed they could live in greater peace 
and security. 

Lord Selkirk entertained great admiration 
for the character of the Swiss, and having failed 
in his emigration schemes with his own 
countrymen, turned his attention to Switzer- 
land. He prepared and caused to be pub- 
lished in the French and German languao-es a 
pamphlet giving a full but somewhat exagger- 



ated description of the new country, its cli- 
mate, soil and productions, and offered to all 
heads of families, or those who were unmar- 
ried and over twenty-one years of age, land 
free of cost, with seeds, cattle and farming 
implements, all on a credit of three years. It 
was the policy of the British government to 
favor these emigration schemes, the statesmen 
of that day believing that the region in question 
could successfully be colonized and settled by 
way of the north route, viz: Hudson Bay, Nel- 
son River and Lake Winnipeg. The pamphlet 
alluded to was freely distributed by Lord Sel- 
kirk's agents in the French-speaking cantons 
of Neuchatel, Vaud and Geneva, and in the 
German-speaking canton of Berne. Many young 
and middle-aged men in those cantons, having 
become w^eary of the condition of affairs at 
home, decided to emigrate to British America 
under the auspices of Lord Selkirk, and formed 
a colony for that purpose. It was agreed to 
set out for America in the spring of 1821. 
The colony numbered over 200 persons, nearly 
three-fourths of whom were of French origin 
and speaking that language. They were Pro- 
testants in faith, and belonged to the Reformed 
Lutheran Church. Many of the families were 
descendants of the Huguenots of Eastern 
France ; all were healthy, robust and well fitted 



for the labor and privations incident to a life 
in a new country ; most of them were liberally 
educated and possessed of considerable means, 
Among the more prominent heads of families 
were Monuier and Rindesbacher (the senior, of 
the colony in age, and men of culture and of 
influence in their respective localities), Dr. 
Ostertag, Chetlain (originally Chatelain) and 
Descombes ; and of the unmarried, Schirmer 
(afterward, for a score of years, the leading 
jeweler at Galena, Illinois), Quinche and Lan- 
get. To the foregoing names might be added 
those of Ehrler, Schadiker, Hombert, Tissot, 
Ebersol, Sunier, Marchand, Terret, Hoffmann, 
Tubac, Gilbert, Gush, Racine and Simon, most 
of whom were married. In the families there 
w^ere, as it happened, but few children under 
twelve years of age, except infants in arms. 

In the month of May, 182 1, the prelimi- 
naries having been completed, the colonists 
assembled at a small village on the Rhine near 
Basle. Why they did not rendezvous at Basle — 
a city of considerable commercial importance — 
seems a little strange. The impression after- 
ward prevailed among the colonists that the 
managers feared to take them to a large city 
lest some unfavorable facts connected with 
the country to which they were going might 
come to light, especially the important circum- 



stance that Lord Selkirk had failed to settle 
the country with his own countrymen. Be this 
as it may, two large flat-boats or barges were 
provided for their use at the rendezvous, and 
in these they floated down the Rhine, wath 
its numerous cities and villages and its vine- 
clad hills and ruined castles on either hand. 
But with hearts elated with hope, and their 
imaginations filled with visions of a distant 
land, it may be doubted if the storied scenes 
of that beautiful river received from these 
hardy adventurers more than a passing thought. 
At the end of ten days they reached a small 
village near Rotterdam, where a staunch ship, 
the '-Lord Nelson," w^as in readiness to take 
them to the New World. 

After setting sail their course lay north of 
Great Britain, and just south of Greenland, to 
Hudson Strait. Soon after their departure 
from Holland it was found that the quality of 
the food issued was greatly inferior to that 
promised them before their departure from 
Switzerland, and complaint was made to the 
captain of the ship — a stern, but kind-hearted 
old seaman, who acknowledged the wTong, 
but claimed that he was not responsible for 
it, which was no doubt true. The water also 
was bad, and issued in insufficient quantities. 
Arriving at Hudson Strait, latitude 62^ north, 
12 



the Lord Nelson overtook two English ships 
bound for Fort York, or York Factory, situ- 
ated at the mouth of the Nelson River, laden 
with Indian goods and supplies for the garri- 
sons at Forts York and Douglas, and for the 
employes of the Hudson Bay Company. The 
strait was filled with fioes and bergs of ice, 
and the ships were thereby detained over 
three weeks. One of the supply ships was 
seriously damaged, and nearly lost, by col- 
lision with an iceberg. Finally, with much 
difficulty and no little peril, Hudson Bay was 
entered, and after a long and tedious voyage 
of nearly four months, they landed at Fort 
York. The colonists were at once embarked 
in bateaux, and commenced the ascent of the 
Nelson River. Propelling their heavy-laden 
boats by rowing, often against a strong cur- 
rent, at the end of twenty days Lake Winni- 
peg was reached, and here new troubles 
awaited them. The season w^as advanced, 
the fall storms had set in, and their progress 
along the east shore of the lake, 260 miles 
in length, was slow and laborious. After a 
day's hard rowing, often against head-winds, 
the little fleet of boats would put into some 
sheltered spot, where the weary voyageurs, 
perhaps drenched with rain or benumbed with 
cold, would kindle fires, and all be made as 
13 



comfortabiti as possible for the night. In 
addition to these discouragements and discom- 
forts, their supply of provisions gave out, 
and the few fish they were able to catch 
were barely sufficient to keep them from 
starving. At the end of three weeks, much 
time having been lost by reason of high 
winds and storms, they arrived, half famished, 
at the mouth of the Red River, where, to 
their dismay, they learned that the locusts or 
grasshoppers had passed through the country 
the summer before, literally destroying all the 
crops. With heavy hearts they proceeded up 
the river some thirty-five miles to Fort Doug- 
las, situated on the west bank of the river, 
where now stands the city of Winnipeg. 
Governor Alexander McDonell and the other 
officers of the Hudson Bay Company, by 
their cordial welcome and earnest efforts to 
supply their wants and make them comfort- 
able, not only gladdened their hearts, but did 
much to make them forget the hardships of 
their long voyage. 

It is worthy of note, in passing, that 
three years before their arrival the Hudson 
Bay Company and the Northwest Company 
had settled their long-standing difficulties ami- 
cably, and merged their interests in a new 
corporation, retaining the name of the former 
14 



company. Governor McUonell could not 
promise the colonists sufficient provisions to 
carry them through the approaching winter, 
for it was evident that the supplies received 
from England would be inadequate for the 
wants of all. After a full deliberation upon a 
question scarcely less momentous than that of 
life or death, it was resolved to send some 
seventy-five of the )Ounger and more hardy 
of the colonists to Pembina, up the river, near 
the United States boundary, sixty miles dis- 
tant, where it was believed the buffalo, elk 
and deer were more abundant, and where 
jerked buffalo meat and pemmican could be 
obtained from the Indians of that locality. 
Just as the winter closed in, the party arrived 
at Pembina, and at once set about repairing 
the buildings of the deserted trading post, con- 
structing huts and procuring fuel for the winter. 
The succeeding winter was long and intensely 
cold, the thermometer often falling to forty-five 
degrees below zero, and the snow unusually 
deep. The colonists wintering at Pembina fared 
badly enough. With the advance of winter, 
the scanty supply of provisions brought from 
Fort Douglas diminished rapidly, and, when 
exhausted, the fish, obtained with difficulty 
from the river through holes cut in the ice, 
with what buffalo meat could be bouofht from 



the Indians, was scarcely sufficient to prevent 
starvation. Sometimes an Indian dog was 
killed and eaten, and relished by most of 
them. The parties who occasionally ventured 
out with dogs and sledges, obtained from the 
Indians to hunt for the buffalo, met with 
indifferent success, owing to the scarcity of 
the animals that winter, and lack of experi- 
ence. Several of them were maimed for life 
by the freezing of their hands and feet. In 
the spring, after the snow had disappeared, 
the women would gather acorns and the seed- 
balls of the wild-rose bush that grew rank 
on the margin of the river, whidi, when 
cooked with a little buffalo fat, made nutri- 
tious if not palatable food, and served to relieve 
the hardship and monotony of the almost 
exclusively fish diet of the preceding winter. 
Five years prior to the advent of the Swiss 
colony the employes of the Northwest Com- 
pany, in their bitter opposition to Lord Sel- 
kirk's scheme to colonize that country with 
Europeans, openly resisted the settlers, and 
went so far as to make an armed attack on a 
settlement of Scotchmen near Fort Douglas, 
killine some twenty of them, includino; Gov- 
ernor Robert Semple, who had received his 
appointment as Governor of Hudson Bay Com- 
pany five years previous. Lord Selkirk, on 

i6 



learning- of the massacre, left England at once 
for Canada. There he obtained from the 
authorities a hundred or more soldiers from 
the " De Meuron Regiment"^" and a few vol- 
unteers. Placing himself at their head, he 
proceeded to the Red River Settlement, where, 
after seizing several of their trading-posts, he 
restored peace and tranquility, f Two years 
after, the troops brought from Canada were 
discharged, and the greater part of them were 
induced by Lord Selkirk to settle in that 
country. Land was donated them near Fort 
Douglas, and cattle and other supplies fur- 
nisheci them on a long credit. Fortune favored 
these settlers, and at the time of the arrival 
of the Swiss colony they were generally well- 
to-do farmers; and had it not been for the 
ravages of the grasshoppers the summer before, 
the crops of these farmers would have fur- 
nished ample food for the new-comers during 

* Count De Meuron, a French Swiss of Neuchatel, raised a 
regiment of infantry, mostly in Switzerland, whicli was employed by 
the British government for operations in lower Canada, with the 
agreement that the men, at the end of their term of enlistment, should 
be given lands in any portion of Canada, free of charge. 

f Mr. Henry Bradshaw Fearon published at London, in 1818, 
"A narrative of a journey through the Eastern and Western parts of 
America, together with remarks on Birbeck's Notes and Letters," 
(referring to the Edwards Co., 111., settlement). 

In a history of the English settlement in Edwards County, 111., pub- 
lished in Chicago, in 1882, the Hon. E. B. Washburne, ex-Secretary of 
State, ex-Embassador and Minister Plenipotentiary to France, etc., says: 

" Curiously enough, Mr. Fearon speaks of meeting, at Gwathway's 
Hotel, in Louisville, Kv., Lord Selkirk, who was on his 'return 



their first year's stay. These Canadian settlers, 
or "meurons, " as they were called, were all 
unmarried, except a few who had taken Indian 
or half-breed wives. Among the colonists 
were several families in which were marriage- 
able daughters, and it was natural that offers 
of marriage should be made by the bachelor 
farmers. During the winter several such mar- 
riages were consummated. The colonists, 
although disappointed and almost starving, 
were nevertheless cheerful, and disposed to 
make the most of the unfortunate circumstances 
in which they found themselves. It was deemed 
necessary to celebrate the nuptials in a becom- 
ing manner, and to do honor to the occasion 
a party would be given, to which the relatives 
and friends were bidden. Wedding cake was 
made of coarse flour obtained from wheat 
ground in the ordinary rotary coffee-mill, to 
which was added a little buffalo fat and salt. 



from his successful expedition in the Northwest Territory." He says 
.he obtained for his lordship some Boston papers which were only two 
months old, which afforded him great satisfaction, as he had not heard 
any intelligence from Europe for nine months. 

"This is an interesting fact, for it shows that Lord Selkirk, on 
leaving the settlement he had founded on the Red River of the North, 
did not return home by sea from York Fact<jry or by JVIontreal, but 
made his way by land to Fort St. Anthony — afterward Fort Snelling 
— and thence down tlie Mississippi River to St. Louis. Lord Selkirk 
formed his first colony in 1811, which was re inforced by an immigra- 
tion in 1815. This colony was under the protection of the Hudson 
Bay and the Northwest Companies. 

"The latter company undertook to expel Selkirk's colonists. When 
Lord Selkirk, who was then in England, heard of this, he procured 

18 



There was also the; music of the \iohn, and 
the feet of the dancers kept time to the airs 
of Switzerland. 

The health of all the colonists that winter 
was good, despite the severity of the winter 
and the insufficiency of food. The opening- of 
spring found them ready to enter on the 
lands allotted them at "La Fourche, " at the 
junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, 
and soon after the first of Ma}' the entire 
colony was again united. Lord Selkirk had 
died at Pau, France, the autumn before their 
departure from Switzerland, but the fact had 
been withheld from them until after their 
arrival at Fort Douglas. Consequentl)' no 
provision had been made to supply them with 
seeds and farming implements, as promised 
them before their departure from the Old 
World. They were therefore compelled, with 
few exceptions, to use the ordinary hoe and 

permission from the Brilish government to take a military force from 
Canada to Red River to protect his settlers. With a company of 
regular soldiers of the British army and a certain number of volun- 
teers, he returned with them to Red River and drove out the repre- 
sentatives of the Northwest Company. After this had been accom- 
plished, finding his colony weakened by the troubles it had gone 
through, he determined to return to Europe to beat up recruits for 
another colony. The original colonists had been mostly Scotch, 
but now lie turned his attention to procuring protestant Swiss, mostly 
from the Jura. This last colony, having been organized, sailed for 
York Factory in 1821. But in the meantime, and without the knowl- 
edge of the colonists, before they had taken their departure. Lord 
Selkirk had died at Pau, in France. This was a fatal idow to the 
success of the colony. 



spade in turning- over the sod and in prepar- 
ing the soil for planting and sowing- the seeds 
obtained in limited quantities from the Cana- 
dian farmers. However, as the result of a 
hard summer's work, the women assisting the 
men, and the soil being remarkably productive, 
the crops raised, with what they obtained from 
the older settlers, carried them through the 
succeeding winter comfortably. 

Early in the fall of 1821, a herd of cattle, 
mostly cows, arrived from the State of Mis- 
souri, in charge of a party of armed drovers, 
and were distributed in the spring- of 1822 
among the Swiss settlers. This distribution of 
cattle, which had been contracted for by Lord 
Selkirk before his death, was all that had been 
done for the colonists in fulfillment of the 
pledges made them before their departure from 
Europe. As a consequence, dissatisfaction 
became creneral, and a determination was made 



"Deprived of the fostering care of the founder, and with unlooked 
for and terrible hardships, and in the presence of frightful sufferings, 
the colonists were obliged to totally abandon their enterprise . 

"There was no ship to take them back by the way of the sea 
from York Factory; the only possible escape was to the nearest settle- 
ment in the United States. Their attention was undoubtedly directed 
to this means of deliverance by the fact that Lord Selkirk had taken 
that route, when he left the country in 1818. Many of these colonists 
afterward settled in the Galena lead mines and became excellent 
citizens, distinguished by probity and honor, industry and thrift. A 
son of one of the prominent colonists [the author of this sketch] has 
written a very interesting account of the colony of 182 1." 

This date should l)e 1816 and not 1818, as given l)y Mr. Wash- 
burne. 



by a small part of the colonists to depart, the 
first practicable moment, for the United States — 
a country of which they had learned much since 
their arrival at the Red River. On the return 
of the drovers, in the autumn of 1821, five 
families begged permission to accompany them, 
which was granted. In the month of Novem- 
ber the party arrived in safety at Fort St. 
Anthony (subsequently Fort Snelling), situated 
at the junction of the Mississippi and St. Peter's 
rivers, then in process of construction, and 
garrisoned by United States troops in com- 
mand of Colonel Josiah Snelling of the Fifth 
United States Infantry. With the consent of 
the commanding officer, the party of emigrants 
remained at the fort during the succeeding 
winter. The next spring they settled on the 
military reservation near the fort, cultivated 
land, and sold the products to the garrison. 

In the spring of 1823 thirteen more of the 
colonists, with their families, decided to go to 
the United States, with the intention of set- 
tling in the State of Missouri, of which section 
of the Union they had heard glowing descrip- 
tions from the party of drovers two years 
before. They hired some half dozen carts — 
all that could be obtained in the settlement — 
to carry their effects to the head waters of 
the St. Peter's (now the Minnesota) River at 



Lake Traverse, some 200 miles above Fort 
St. Anthony, by the course of the river. These 
carts were constructed without iron; the tires 
being of rawhide drawn tightly around the 
wheel. They are still known as the Red River 
cart, and, until the opening of the North Pacific 
railroad, were frequently seen at St. Paul. The 
Sioux Indians, found on their route after enter- 
ing the United States, were unfriendly, if not 
openly hostile, and the little company were 
often in considerable peril. By judicious man- 
agement, however, understanding as they well 
did the character of the Indian, they escaped 
open conflict. The chiefs, of the roving bands 
encountered, were generally appeased, and 
their apparent good-will gained by presents of 
ammunition, food and trinkets. Before the 
end of their journey, however, the Indians 
succeeded in stealing a part of their cooking 
utensils and provisions. The inadequate num- 
ber of carts, heavily laden as they were with 
their effects, prevented any, except the older, 
children from riding, and often a mother would 
walk twent)' miles in a day with a babe in her 
arms. The men were all armed, and acted as an 
escort to the train. After a long, and at times 
perilous, journey of 400 miles, they reached 
Lake Traverse and went into camp; the carts 
returning with the men to whom they belonged. 



Preparations were at once beg-un to descend j 
the St. Peter's river. Cottonwood trees were ..,') 
felled, and canoes or " dug'-outs " were made; 
one for every two adults of the party. The 
work was slow and difficult for the want of ~x^ 
proper tools. Being in a country through 
which roamed hunting parties of unfriendly 
and thieving Indians, it was neccessary to keep 
a g-uard ov^er the camp at night. That duty 
devolved on the women, for the men needed 
the sleep of night in order to be able to work 
by day on the canoes. An old lady,^ now in 
her seventy-ninth year, and the only surviving \^ 
member of the colony, who was twenty years 
of age or more at the time of the departure 
of the colony from Switzerland, told the rk 
writer not long since, with evident pride, that 
she had more than once stood guard over -^ 
that little camp, armed with a gun, from nine <>v^ 
o'clock at night until sunrise the next morn- 
ing. The canoes having been finished, the 
party launched them, and heading them down 
the stream, floated with the current the greater 
part of the time. The river, as is usual at that 
season of the year, was low, and some portions 
of it filled with shoals and sand-bars, over 
which they were often compelled to drag their 
heavy-laden crafts. About the middle of the 

* Mrs. Louis Chellain, who died Oct., 1887, at Galena. 
23 



month of September they arrived at Fort St. 
Anthony, and Avere kindly received by the 
officers of the garrison, and warmly welcomed 
by their countrymen who had preceded them 
one year before. After a few weeks' rest they 
prepared to descend the Mississippi river to 
St. Louis, their destination. Tv/o small barges 
or keel boats, which had been used to trans- 
port supplies from St. Louis for the use of the 
troops, were generously placed at their disposal 
by Colonel Snelling (who also supplied them 
with provisions for the voyage), and in these 
they leisurely floated down the river, meeting 
with little or no difficulty. The exposure and 
hardships of the summer and early fall brought 
on chills and fevers and other malarial diseases. 
Mr. Monnier, the senior of the party in age, 
fell sick and died, and was buried near Prairie 
du Chien; and soon after his eldest daughter 
followed him. Before reaching Rock Island, 
Mr. Chetlain became delirious with fever, and 
it was decided to leave him, with his wife and 
child, at Fort Amstrong, where he was placed 
in the post hospital and cared for with kind- 
ness and skill by Dr. Craig, the post surgeon. 
The rest proceeded on their way, reaching St. 
Louis late in the month of November. Mr. 
Chetlain and family joined them the next 
spring. 



On the arrival of the emigrants at St. Louis, 
then a city of 6,000 inhabitants, they were 
welcomed and hospitably treated by the Chou- 
teaus, Soulards and Gratiots (the latter of 
Franco-Swiss origin), and other French-speak- 
ing citizens, who had become familiar with 
their peculiar history. The greater part of the 
emigrants leased lands near the city and culti- 
vated them. They proved industrious, temper- 
ate and thrifty citizens. The climate of that 
region, however, was evidently unfavorable for 
them, and a larger part fell sick. The process 
of acclimation was slow and difficult, and by 
the end of the second summer most of them 
decided to remove to a cooler and more health- 
ful climate. The opening of the lead mines of 
the Northwest gave the wished-for opportunity. 
Mr. Chetlain and a few others, with their fami- 
lies, joined Colonel Henry Gratiot, the newly 
appointed United States agent for the Winne- 
bago Indians, and took passage on the steam- 
boat Mexico — one of the first boats that as- 
cended the Mississippi above the mouth of the 
Illinois River — for La Pointe, on Fever River, 
where now stands the city of Galena; arriving 
there the 14th day of April, 1826. Some 
months later, Messrs. Schirmer, Langet and 
others followed. In the autumn of that year 
the greater part of them removed to the Indian 
25 



agency at Gratiot's Grove, fifteen miles north- 
east Irom La Pointe, and engrag-ed in mining- 
and smelting lead ore, and in farming. 

The spring of 1826 was noted for the great 
rise of water in the Mississippi and its tribu- 
taries, and in the Red and Assiniboine rivers, 
caused by the unusual deep snow of the pre- 
ceding winter, which had melted with warm 
and heavy rains. The Red and Assiniboine 
rivers rose so high that the lands at La Fourche 
M^ere completely inundated, and the settlers 
compelled to seek safety by flight to higher 
ground, several miles distant, taking with them 
their cattle and household effects. The losses, 
sustained by the fiood, were very great, and 
no efforts were made to repair them. Nearly 
all the Swiss settlers remaining at La Fourche, 
including a part of the Canadian settlers, hav- 
ing become thoroughly discouraged, decided to 
leave at once for the United States. Abandon- 
ing their lands, and selling their cattle and 
farming implements for what they could, the)- 
hired carts to transport their effects and pro- 
visions, and started in a body for Fort vSt. 
Anthony, following the route taken by the 
first party (three years before) to Lake Tra- 
verse, and from thence by land to their desti- 
nation, arriving there early in the autumn of 
that year. Governor McDonell and the other 
26 



officers of the Hudson Hay Company dee]:)ly 
regretted their departure, and generously sup- 
phed them with provisions for the journey tree 
of cost, an interpreter, a guide, and an armed 
escort of fort)'-five men. A few weeks after 
their arrival at Fort St. Anthony they were 
fortunate enough to find a small steamboat 
that had been used to transport supplies for 
the troops at that point, in which they took 
passage for the lead mines, to which place they 
decided to go after they had reached Fort St. 
Anthony. On their arrival at La Pointe they 
were warmly welcomed by their countrymen 
who had preceded them. Some of them set- 
tled at La Pointe, while the greater part went 
out to the agency at Gratiot's Gro-^^e and 
engaged in mining and farming. 

Six years later, when the Indian troubles 
began which culminated in a war known as 
the "Black Hawk War," and volunteers were 
called for, nearly all the men, without regard 
to age, enlisted, and, having been accustomed 
to the use of firearms, rendered the country 
of their adoption valuable service. 

The descendants of these colonists are 
numerous, and are found scattered throughout 
the Northwest, the greater part being in the 
region of the lead mines. Most of them are 
thrifty farmers and stockbreeders. A few have 
27 



entered the professions and trade. All, as far 
as is known, are temperate, industrious and 
law-abidine citizens. 




28 



LETTER FROM MRS. GRISARD (nee SIMON). 

Gen. a. L. Chetlain. 

Dear Sir and Friend: I can offer no 
excuse for not acknowledging your kind letter 
and the Harper of 1878, except the desire to 
write you with my own hand. The descrip- 
tion in the Harper was entirely correct, and, if 
I were with you and your dear mother, we 
would, without doubt, in talking over that ter- 
rible voyage, recollect many things. The ship 
that was run into by the iceberg was the 
"Lord Nelson." We were three ships fast- 
ened to the iceberg, and at one time there 
were five — two exploring vessels laden with 
merchandise for Quebec, and the two others 
for Ft. York. Mme. Quinche [nee Monnier, ) 
must remember that when we were invited on 
to one of the other ships, that, in returning, 
she fell into the water, greatly to our fright. 
On our voyage we were so near the North 
29 



Pole that it was continually day — there being 
only from fifteen to twenty minutes that we 
could not see to read on deck. Captain May, 
the Secretary of Lord Selkirk, had assured me 
that the climate on the borders of the Red 
River was perfect, maturino- all kinds of grain 
and fruits; so the visits of the Esquimaux to 
our ship was another surprise, and showed us 
what high latitude we were in. Arriving at 
Ft. York, there were not enough boats for 
transporting our baggage, so we were obliged 
to leave everything that was not absolutely 
necessary for the winter, with the promise that 
in the spring everything would be delivered in 
good order at Ft. Douglass, on Red River; 
but I do not know if the things ever arrived, 
for we left the colony the spring of 1822, after 
the second devastation from "grasshoppers," 
which covered the earth, coming like a great 
thunderstorm. As you say, we distributed our- 
selves amono- the Meurons, who belono-ed to a 
regiment commanded by a Swiss, of Neuchatel 
— Count de Meuron — who, much to our dis- 
appointment, was absent during our stay there. 
I do not remember his name, but his parents 
were sugar-refiners in Neuchatel at that time. 
During our stay there our expenses were 
great. Wheat was two dollars a bushel, and 
was ground in our own coffee-mills (mine we 
30 



still keep as a relic); potatoes were the same 
price, but meat was only twelve pounds for 
one dollar; coffee, two dollars a pound; the 
same with tobacco; sug'ar, one dollar a pound, 
and salt, one dollar a quart. Our suffering 
was great toward spring, when there was a 
lack of all provisions, at which time we lived 
on fish, without even salt. Sturgeon and cat- 
fish are very large in that river. From that 
time my father decided to leave the colon)-. 
He chartered two boats, with two hunters to 
row and provide us with game. Arrived at 
Pembina, which at that time was considered 
to be in the English territory, we found the 
Sioux Indians on the war-path, which made 
traveling by water too dangerous, so we hired 
two carts, with guides, who drove cattle for 
Lord Selkirk, and with the two hunters for 
protection we went from Pembina to the 
River St. Peter (now Minnesota). Mamma 
and myself were the first white women who 
had ever crossed those prairies, and the danger 
was terrible. When lea\-ing Pembina, all the 
half-breeds and Canadians said it would not be 
three days before the Indians would be danc- 
ing with the scalps of those white women, but 
God protected us, though many times I came 
near being captured, but our guides were faith- 
ful and on the alert; but, what is strange, those 
31 



very same Indians recognized me at Fort Snell- 
\ng, and told the interpreters how they had 
laid their plans to capture me. At Lake 
Traverse we were obliged to stop quite a 
time, as it was just the time that the Indians 
were there to receive their annuities from the 
government. At that time we heard that you 
had crossed without being massacred, and a 
number of families joined us there (among 
which were the Ouinches), where we were cut- 
ting the trees to make our canoes, and as we 
had dismissed the hunters we only had the 
guides and my father, who was not accustomed 
to work, so the other families made their canoes 
long before us, and before we left the place we 
almost died of hunger. For two whole days 
we had not one mouthful to eat; on the third 
we met some Indians who were picking wild 
rice. They took us to their tents and fed us 
bountifully with soup and little pieces of meat 
that were cooking on the fire when we came. 
We stayed with them two days. 

Your list of names was correct, but I think 
I remember a family of Junot, and one named 
Jacard. 

Arriving at Fort Snelling, I was received 

like a sister by Mme. Colonel Snelling, in whose 

family I stayed while there. Each day my 

father came and gave French lessons to Miss 

32 



and Mrs. Snelling-, and so our stay was lucra- 
tive as well as agreeable. 

In the spring of 1823 a steamboat arrived 
there, named the "Virginia." This was the 
first steamboat that had ascended the Missis- 
sippi above the mouth of the Illinois River. 
It had been three weeks coming from St. Louis, 
as it did not run nights. The winter of 1822-23 
was a remarkable one. During a number of 
weeks the garrison of Fort St. Peter was on 
the alert, fearing a surprise from the Indians, 
who were then massed together so near the 
fort that the sound of their war-cry was heard. 
Their plan was to massacre the whole garrison. 
From that time no Indian was allowed to come 
into the fort. 

My father was a teacher, and did not have 
enough occupation, so we left for St. Louis, 
arriving in good health. We were introduced 
into the families of Soulards and Chouteaus. 
Mrs. James G. Soulard and Colonel Snelling 
were brother and sister. Our stay there was 
pleasant, and my father had plenty of lucrative 
work (there being only one young lady who 
gave French lessons, a Miss Favre); but it was 
unhealthy at St. Louis, and my father wished 
to come here, where the settlers were almost 
entirely Vaudois Suisse. He died five weeks 
after our arrival. 

33 



I continued, for some time, to keep a little 
school, but at last had to turn my attention to 
the sewing for the family. I was accustomed 
to fancy sewing-, but at that time the necessa- 
ries of life were all one could possibly perform. 

In 1825 I married Fred G. Grisard, from 
Villeret, Canton of Berne. We lived happily 
until January 30th, 1881, when he died. 

Each day grows sadder, though 1 have my 
eldest daughter with me, and my children are 
all kind, and I have abundantly of this world's 
goods. I thank God, hoping that some day 
not distant I shall join my husband, for I am 
past seventy-seven years. 

Accept niy assurance of esteem, and, if you 
ever come to Vevay, I shall be delighted to 
have a visit from you. 

Very truly, 

Zelie C. Grisard, 
nee Zelie C. Simon. 
Vevay, Indiana, December 21st, 1884. 



34 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 

David Monnier. — Born in the Canton of 
Neuchatel. He was a man of education, prob- 
ity of character, and of kind disposition. He 
had a large family — six daughters and two 
sons. His daughters married Quinche, Shir- 
mer, the Jaccards and Estey, all of whom are 
dead. His son, a farmer and stockbreeder, 
died not long since near Galena, leaving a 
large family. IVIr. Monnier and his eldest 
daughter died in 1823 while descending the 
Mississippi River from Fort St. Anthony to 
St. Louis. His grandchildren are quite numer- 
ous, and are living in Galena and vicinity, and 
in St. Louis. One granddaughter — the daugh- 
ter of the late Augustus Estey, a banker in 
Galena, and wife of Capt. W. A. Montgomery, 
a prominent lawyer — is living in Chicago. 

Peter Rixdesbacher. — A native of the 
Canton of Berne, senior of the colonists, and 
35 



sometimes called Father Rindesbacher; by 
force of character he was recognized as their 
leader. He died over a score of years ago 
on his farm in Jo Daviess County, Illinois. 
He had a numerous family, all of whom are 
now dead, except Mrs. Charles Monnier. His 
eldest daughter married Doctor Ostertag. 
Some years after the doctor's death she mar- 
ried Mr. Collins. The children and grandchil- 
dren are living in southwestern Wisconsin. 
His second son, Peter, born in Switzerland, 
was a young man of great promise. He early 
developed a taste for music and painting. 
When in St. Louis, he was placed in a studio 
of a portrait painter of some note. He had 
some creditable sketches of Indians and of 
wild animals — done in a somewhat crude way 
at the Red River settlement — that attracted 
the attention of some United States army 
officers at St. Louis, who later took him with 
them on military excursions up the Missouri 
River. He excelled in portrait-painting on 
ivory. He died in St. Louis at the age of 
twenty-eight. It has been stated by compe- 
tent judges of his work that, had he lived, he 
would have ranked as an artist with Stanly 
and Catlin. The third son, Frederick, an 
extensive farmer of Jo Daviess County, died 
some years ago, leaving a large family, among 
36 



whom two are sons — prominent citizens in that 
section of the country, 

Alfred Ouinxiik. — Married the second 
daughter of Mr. Monnier, and had numerous 
children. Two of his sons are now hving in 
Kansas. Alfred, the second son, who died 
some years since, was extensively engaged for 
many years in mining and smelting lead ore 
near Shullsburg, Wisconsin. The fourth son, 
Alexander, received a collegiate education and 
took a theological course preparatory to enter- 
ing the ministry. Soon after entering the 
ministry, he accepted the chair of Literature 
in the Oxford University of the State of Mis- 
sissippi. He ranked high in his profession, 
and died some years ago after twenty-eight 
years' continuous service in that institution. 
He left a widow and two daughters, now 
living. 

Philip F. Shirmer. — A man of rare intel- 
ligence, great energy, good business qualifica- 
tions and strong religious convictions, was 
born at Geneva. He married Miss Monnier. 
There were born to them five children. The 
eldest son, David, died some years ago; Philip 
is a merchant in St, Louis; Mrs, Barker, 
widow of the late l)r, W. S. Barker, a prom- 
inent physician of St. Louis; Mrs. Catlin 
(widow) and Miss Henrietta, are living in St, 

37 



Louis, and Mrs. Miller (widow), in Denver, 
Colorado. 

Louis Ciietlain (originally Chatelain). — Of 
Tramelan, Canton of Berne, Switzerland, mar- 
ried Julie Hombert Droz, of Ligneres, Canton 
of Neuchatel, in 1820. There were born to them 
eleven children, five of whom are now living: 
Frederick, the eldest son, one of the best known 
and most highly-esteemed men in the lead 
mine region, and the manager of the Chetlain 
farm, near Galena, after the death of his father, 
in 1873, died over a year ago. Of Augustus, 
the second son, Appleton's Encyclopccdia of 
American Biography says: 

"Augustus Louis Chetlain. — Born in St. 
Louis, Missouri, December 26th, 1824. His 
parents, of French Huguenot stock, emigrated 
from Neufchatel, Switzerland, in 1821, and 
were members of the Red River colony. He 
received a common school education, became 
a merchant in Galena, and was the first vol- 
unteer at a meeting, held in response to the 
President's call, after the bombardment of Fort 
Sumpter, in 1861. He was chosen captain of 
the compan)- when Cxeneral (then captain) 
U. S. Grant declined, and on May ist, 1861, was 
commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Twelfth 
Illinois infantry. He was in command at 
Smithland, Kentucky, from September, 1861, 



till Januar)-, 1862, and then participated in 
Cien. C. F. Smith's campaign on the Tennessee 
River to Fort Henr)-. and led his regiment at 
Fort Donaldson. He was engaged at Shiloh, 
distinguishing himself at Corinth, being left in 
command of that post until May, 1863, and 
while there superintended the organization of 
the first colored regiment raised in the West. 
On December 13th, 1863, he was promoted 
brigadier-general, placed in charge of the organ- 
ization of colored troops in Tennessee, and 
afterward in Kentucky, and by January ist, 
1864, had raised a force of 17,000 men, for 
which service he was brevetted major-general. 
From January to October, 1865, he commanded 
the post and forces of Memphis, and then the 
district of Talladega, Alabama, until February 
5th, 1866, when he was mustered out of service. 
He was assessor of internal revenue for the dis- 
trict of Utah and Northern W)-oming in 1867-9, 
then V. S. Consul at Brussels, and after his 
return to the United States in 1872, established 
himself in Chicago as a banker and stockbroker. 
In 1872 he organized the Home National Bank 
of Chicago, and became its president. In Sep- 
tember, 1886, Cieneral Chetlain delivered the 
annual address before the Society of the Army 
of the Tennessee, at Rock Island, 111. In 1891 
he organized the Industrial Bank of Chicago, 
39 



and was elected president of its board of direct- 
ors." He has one son, Arthur H. Chetlain, a 
lawyer, now First Assistant Corporation Coun- 
sel of Chicago. 

Henry, the youngest son of Louis Chet- 
ain, is now in charge of the Chetlain farm. 
Charles Edward, a merchant, died in 1873. 
The daughters living are Mrs. Capt. T. G. 
Drening and Mrs. D. N. Corwith, of Galena, 
and Mrs. T. H. Davis, of Grundy Center, Iowa. 

Francois Longette (originally Langet). — 
A farmer of West Galena, died many years ago, 
leaving two children — Charles, still living on the 
old farm, and Mrs. Calderwood, of Galena. 

Descombs. — The Descombs located in Mis- 
souri, near St. Louis. A number of their chil- 
dren and grandchildren are now living in Mis- 
souri and California. 

ScHADiKER. — Mr. and Mrs. Schadiker were 
people of more than ordinary culture. They 
left the settlement at an early date and took up 
their residence at F"ort St. Anthony.* The 
dauo-hter married Serjeant Adams, afterwards 
Captain Adams of U. S. A. Captain Adams, 
as an officer, was appreciated for his many 



*Mr.s. Gen. Van Cleve, in her work, "Three Score Years and Ten; 
Life-long Memories of Fort Snelling, Minnesota," alludes to the Schadi- 
kers and other members of the colony who stopped at Fort St. Anthony 
on their way to St. Louis and Galena. 



soldierly qualities. He died some years ago, 
leaving- a widow, who now is living in Evans- 
ton, Illinois. 

The children and grandchildren of Varing, 
Erhler, Brickler, (ierber, Tachio and Switzer are 
livino- in the lead mine reo'ion. 





LOUIS CHETLAIN. PHILIP F. SHIRMER. 

PETER RINDESBACHER. 
PROK. ALEXANDER (lULNCHE. GEN. A. L. CHETLAIN. 



APPENDIX, 



STATEMENT, ETC., OF THE EARL OF SELKIRK. 

The plans of colonization, promoted by the Earl of 
Selkirk in British North America, have, for some time 
past, given rise to much, and gross, misrepresentation. 
More than common pains have been taken, by his oppo- 
nents, to mislead, and prejudice, the public; — but such 
attempts, when the opportunity for strict investigation 
arrives, can have no other effect than to recoil upon those 
whose studied object has been to calumniate an individual, 
and conceal the truth. It is therefore extremely desirable 
that the real circumstances of the case should be better 
understood, and that the true nature, and extent of those 
extraordinary acts, by which his plans have hitherto been 
thwarted, should be developed. The documents which I 
have to produce, and the facts which I am enabled to state, 
cannot fail to throw much light upon the subject. These 
I shall endeavor to submit as clearly, and concisely, as pos- 
sible, — but it will be requisite to trace them shortly from 
their commencement. 

In doing so, I conceive, it will not be necessary for me 

to enter upon the general subject of the emigration from 

this country to North America ; or the views of the Earl 

of Selkirk in forming that settlement which has been the 

47 



object of such enmity and misrepresentation — His Lord- 
ship's sentiments on the general questiori of emigration 
have been long before the public ; and, since he first drew 
its attention, in 1805, to this important subject, a marked 
change has taken place, not only in the opinions of many 
of those who then disagreed with him, but also in the con- 
duct of Government, which has, of late years, humanely 
afforded every reasonable facility for the conveyance, to 
our own colonies, of those emigrants (chiefly from Ireland 
and Scotland), who were but too much disposed to settle 
in the United States. 

The Earl of Selkirk having, in the year 181 1, obtained 
from the Hudson's Bay Company, a grant of land within 
the territory bestowed upon them by their Charter, pro- 
ceeded, in conformity with one of the principal objects of 
the conveyance, to establish agricultural settlers upon the 
lands he had so obtained. — The right to the soil, as vested 
in the Company, and the legality of the grant, were fully 
supported by the opinions of several of the most eminent 
counsel in England, — of Sir Samuel Romilly, Mr. (now 
Mr. justice) Holroyd, Mr. Cruise, Mr. Scarlett, and Mr. 
Bell. — His Lordship therefore proceeded, without delay, 
to make the requisite arrangements for the proposed set- 
tlement. — The Hudson's Bay Company, as empowered by 
their Charter, appointed Mr. Miles Macdonell, formerly 
Captain of the Queen's Rangers, to be Governor of the 
district of Ossiniboia, within which the settlement was to 
be formed, and the same gentleman was nominated, by the 
Earl of Selkirk, to superintend the colony, and take charge 
of the settlers. 

In the autumn of the following year, (1812), Mr. 
Miles Macdonell, with a small party, arrived at the spot 
which had been selected for the settlement. — He immedi- 
48 



ately proceeded to erect houses, and make every necessary 
preparation for the arrival of the first detatchment of set- 
tlers, which was soon expected. The situation which had 
been chosen for the colony was on the banks of the Red 
River, (lat. 50° North, long. 97*^ West of London,) about 
forty or fifty miles from its entrance into Lake Winipic, 
and near its confluence with the Ossiniboyne River. — At 
the beginning of the year 1813, the settlement consisted of 
about an hundred persons. — In June, 1814, they received 
an addition of fifty more, and in September following, the 
total number of settlers, and labourers, amounted to about 
two hundred. — In the course of the same year, between 
eighty and ninety additional emigrants, from the Highlands 
of Scotland, arrived at Hudson's Bay, for the purpose of 
proceeding to the settlement, having been induced to join 
their friends and relations at Red River, from the favour- 
able accounts'which the latter had transmitted to them, 
of the lands upon which they were settling, and the flatter- 
ing prospects that awaited them. — This last ^mentioned 
party, however, did not arrive at the settlement until after 
it was broken up, for the first time, as shall be noticed in 
the sequel. 

From the commencement of the Red River settlement 
until the winter of 18 14-15, and the following spring, 
there occurred nothing of any material importance to 
interrupt the progress of this infant colony*. — The diffi- 
culties, which were in some degree unavoidable at the 
beginning of an establishment of that nature, were happily 
got over. — The heads of families, as they arrived, were 
put in possession of regular lots of land, which they 

* It was named the Kildonan Settlement, from the name of the 
parish, in the county of Sutherland, from whence the greater part 
of the settlers had emigrated. 

49 



immediately began to cultivate ;— houses were built ; a mill 
was erected ; sheep and cattle were sent up to the settle- 
ment ; and all practicable means were taken to forward 
the agricultural purposes of the colony. The spot which 
had been selected, had been ascertained to be of the high- 
est fertility, and of the most easy cultivation. Though 
woods abounded in the neighbourhood,containing a variety 
of the iinest timber, yet no trees were required to be cut 
down, or roots to be cleared away, from the lands that 
were appropriated to husbandry. — The expensive and 
tedious operation of clearing away heavy woods, before 
the ground can be tilled, (a measure indispensable in most 
of the new settlements in North America) was totally 
unnecessary upon the banks of the Red River : — the 
plough, from the first, met with no obstruction, and the 
soil proved in the highest degree rich and productive. — 
The climate had long been ascertained to be equal to that 
of any part of Canada, and with less snow in the winter. — 
The river abounded with fish, the extensive plains with 
buffaloe, and the woods with elk, deer, and game. The 
hunting grounds of the Indians were not at all interfered 
with ; and, by the term of the grant, both the grantee, 
and those who held under him as settlers, were entirely 
precluded from being concerned in the fur trade. The 
district indeed had almost already been exhausted of those 
animals, whose furs are so valuable. — The neighbouring 
tribes of Indians (the Sautoux) proved, from the first, to be 
friendly, and well-disposed. — Serious attempts indeed had 
been made, as early as the spring of 1813, by the clerks 
and interpreters employed by the fur traders from Mont- 
real, to instigate the natives against the settlers. — The 
Indians were told by these persons, that it was intended to 
deprive them of their hunting grounds, and that, if the 
5° 



establishment at the Red River once obtained a firm foot- 
ing, the natives would be made slaves of by the colonists. — 
These attempts to alienate the good-will of the natives 
from the settlers appeared, at first, to have an alarming 
effect, producing menaces, and jealousy, on the part of 
their Indian neighbours. — Mr. Miles Macdonell, the Gov- 
ernor of the district, soon found means, however, of 
doing away the unfavorable impressions which had been 
raised. — He held conferences with the Sautoux tribes, and 
not only succeeded in obtaining the continuance of their 
friendship, but also the promise of their supreme chief to 
encourage the Indians of Lake la Pluie to draw nearer 
towards the Red River, for the purpose of planting Indian 
corn, and establishing villages. — From this period the 
Indians, in the neighbourhood, were upon the most 
friendly footing with the colonists, and continued so to 
the last without interruption. — There appeared, therefore, 
nothing likely to occur which would impede the settlers in 
their agricultural pursuits, nor were they themselves 
apprehensive of any molestation. — The Earl of Selkirk, at 
the commencement of the settlement, had sent up some 
light brass field-pieces, swivels, and muskets, for its pro- 
tection ; and an additional quantity of arms and ammuni- 
tion, which had been furnished by Government for the 
defence of the colony, was received there in the summer 
of i8i4.-^In short, the settlers appeared confident of 
their security, contented with their situation, and happy 
in their prospects : nor did there exist any reasonable 
ground to doubt, that, if left undisturbed, the colony in a 
few years would have been completely, and firmly, estab- 
lished. — This indeed, must have been the decided opinion 
at the time, even of those who proved to be its most invet- 
erate opponents, otherwise they never would have thought 
51 



it necessary to take violent means to destroy it. — Had the 
settlement been likely to fail from causes inherent in its 
nature, or arising from the remoteness of its situation, 
or other local circumstances, its enemies (and none were 
better judges than they) would doubtless have left it to 
its fate ; and, remaining passive spectators of its de- 
struction, would gladly have permitted the colony to die 
a natural death, instead of incurring anxiety, expense, 
and the risk of the vengeance of the law, by adopting 
those active measures, to which they resorted, for the 
purpose of strangling it in its infancy. — By the enemies 
of this colony, I mean the North-West Company* of Fur 
Traders at Montreal, — whose hostility to the settlement 
and outrages against their fellow subjects, have been 
carried to a pitch so dreadful, as almost to surpass 
belief. It may be proper, in a few words, to trace 
their enmity from its commencement." 



The foregoing statement continues at considerable 
length, and gives a detailed account of the outrageous 
conduct of the partners or directors, clerks, employees 
and servants of the North-West Fur Company in their 
efforts to destroy the settlement. Threats and intimida- 
tions were followed by the seizure of the cannons, fire- 
arms and ammunition of the settlers furnished them by 
the Earl of Selkirk to protect the settlement, the burn- 
ing of their homes, and finally by an attack on Gover- 

* Although the North-West Fur Traders of Montreal commonly 
go by the name of a Company, they are not a chartered body — 
An account of the origin and constitution of this powerful associa- 
tion may be seen in a pamphlet lately published by the Earl of Sel- 
kirk, entitled, " A Sketch of the British Fur Trade in North 
America," etc., etc. 

52 



nor Semple and his party, which resulted in the mas- 
sacre of the Governor and over twenty of his followers. 

In 1816, the Earl of Selkirk, having learned that the 
North-West Company intended to drive out of the country 
the settlers, and that the work had already been begun, 
at once sailed from England for Canada. Here, hav- 
ing received more definite information of the outrages 
committed, he obtained from the government the services 
of a company of the De Meuron regiment, and also that 
of a number of armed volunteers. With this force he 
proceeded to the settlement at Red River, at first called 
Kildonan. 

He broke up several trading posts belonging to the 
North-West Company and arrested a number of the 
leaders, who were taken to Montreal to be tried by the 
courts. Unfortunately, however, with few exceptions all 
the colonists or settlers left the country, most of them 
making their way to Lower Canada, a few returning to 
their native country by way of the Hudson Bay route. 
Soon after the return of the Earl to England in 18 16, 
the Hudson Bay Company having absorbed the North- 
West Company, and peace having been restored, he 
turned his attention to the matter of securing settlers 
for the Red River country. 

The French-Swiss colony of 182 1 was the result of 
his efforts. 

I give below one of a half score of affidavits of 
eye witnesses, taken by the Earl at Montreal, relating 
to the destruction of the settlement in 1816, Also a 
statement by Mr. Prichard, one of the settlers and 
superintendent of the colony. 



53 



JlEPOSlTION OF P. C PAMBRUN. 

Before me, Thomas Earl of Selkirk, one of his 
Majesty's justices, assigned to keep the peace in the 
western district of Upper Canada, appeared. Pierre 
Chrisologue Pambrun, who, being duly sworn on the 
Holy Evangelists, deposes, that in the month of April 
last, he was sent to the trading post of the Hudson's 
Bay Company, at Qui Appelle, by order of the deceased 
Governor Semple, from whom the deponent received a 
letter of instruction, a copy of which he has attested as 
relation hereto. — That when he arrived, he found that 
at the fort or trading post of the North-West Company, 
near the same place, were assembled, a great number of 
the men, commonly called Brules, Metifs, or half-breeds, 
viz. the bastard sons of Indian concubines, kept by the 
partners or servants of the North-West Company ; that 
these people had been collected from a great distance, 
some of them having come from Cumberland House, 
and others from the Upper Saskatchwan, or Fort des 
Prairies; that they uttered violent threats against the 
colonists on the Red River, in which the deponent 
understood them to be encouraged by Mr. Alexander 
M'Donell, then commanding for the North-West Com- 
55 



pany. — That in the beginning of May, Mr. George Suth- 
erland, commanding the Hudson's Bay post, embarked 
with the deponent and twenty-two men. in five boats, 
loaded with twenty-two packs of furs, and about six 
hundred bags of pemican. — That as they were going 
down the river on or about the 12th day of May, they 
were attacked by a party of forty-nine servants of the 
North-West Company, composed partly of Canadians and 
partly of half-breeds, under the command of Cuthbert 
Grant, Thomas M'Kay, Roderick M'Kenzie and Peter 
Pangman Bostonois, clerks or interpreters of the North- 
West Company, and Brisbois, a guide in their service, by 
whom they were attacked with force of arms and taken 
prisoners, and brought to the fort of the North-West 
Company, when the deponent saw Mr. Alexander M'Don- 
ell, who avowed that it was by his order that the said 
Grant and others had taken them prisoners, and seized 
on the provisions and other property of the Hudson's 
Bay Company, pretending that the measure was justifi- 
able, in retaliation for Mr. Robertson's having lately 
taken the North-West Company's fort at the Forks of 
Red Rfver, and declaring that it was his intention to 
starve the colonists and servants of the Hudson's Bay 
Company, till he should make them surrender. — That 
after having retained, for five days, the servants of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, taken prisoners as aforesaid, 
the said Alexander M'Donell liberated them, after having 
made them promise not to take up arms against the 
North-West Company, but the deponent was still kept 
in close confinement. That towards the end of May, the 
said Alexander M'Donell embarked in his boats and 
proceeded down the river, escorted by a party of half- 
breeds on horseback, who followed them by land, and 
56 



that he carried with him the provisions and furs which 
his people had taken on the 12th. That the deponent 
was made to embark in one of the boats, and as they 
were coming down the river, he was told by several of 
the servants of the North-West Company, that Alexan- 
der M'Donell had said the business of last year 
was a trifle in comparison with that which would take 
place this year, and that the North-West Company and 
the half-breeds were now one and the same. That, at 
the Forks of Ossiniboyne River, they met a Sautoux 
chief with his band, to whom the said Mr. M'Donell 
made a speech, the purport of which was that the Eng- 
lish (meaning the settlers on Red River, and the servants 
of the Hudson's Bay Company) were spoiling the lands 
which belonged to the Indians and half-breeds only : 
that they were driving away the buffaloe, and would 
render the Indians poor and miserable, but that the 
North-West Company would drive them away since the 
Indians ditl not choose to do it ; that if the settlers 
resisted, the ground should be drenched with their blood; 
that none should be spared ; that he did not need the 
assistance of the Indians, but nevertheless he would be 
glad if some of their young men would join him. — That 
when the party came within a few miles of the Hud- 
son's Bay Company's fort at Brandon House, the said 
Cuthbert Grant was sent with a party of about twenty- 
five men, who took the post and pillaged it of every 
thing, including not only the goods, ])rovisions, and furs, 
belonging to the Company, but also the private prop- 
erty of their servants, which the deponent saw distrib- 
uted among the servants of the North-West Company, 
Canadians as well as half-breeds. — That after this, the 
said M'Donell divided his forces into brigades, and 
57 



Cuthbert Grant, Lacerpe, Alexander Fraser, and Antoine 
Hoole, were appointed to command different brigades, 
and that Seraphim Lamar acted as lieutenant over the 
whole, under the said M'Donell ; that the whole force 
amounted to about one hundred and twenty men, among 
whom there were six Indians. — That on arriving at port- 
age des Prairies, the pemican was landed, and arranged 
so as to form a small fort, guarded by two brass swivels, 
which had been taken last year from the stores of the 
settlement. That on or about the i8th of June, two 
days after their arrival at portage des Prairies, the said 
Grant, Lacerpe, Fraser, and Hoole, and Thomas M'Kay, 
were sent with about seventy men to attack the colony, 
and the said M'Donell, with several of his officers, and 
about forty men, remained with the pemican. That in 
the evening of the 20th of June, a messenger arrived 
from Cuthbert Grant, who reported that they had killed 
Governor Semple, with five of his officers and sixteen 
of his men. " * '" '" '"'•" 

Sworn before me, at Fort Willians, on the i6th 
day of August, 18 16. 

Selkirk, J. P. 



5« 



STATEMENT OF MR. PRICHARD.* 

In the course of the winter we were much alarmed 
by reports that the half-breeds were assembling in 
all parts of the North for the purpose of driving us 
away, and that they were expected to arrive at the set- 
tlement early in the spring. 

The nearer the spring approached the more prevalent 
these reports grew, and letters received from different 
posts confirmed the same. Our hunters and those free 
Canadians who had supplied us with provisions were 
much terrified with the dread of the punishment they 
might receive for the support they had given us. My 
neighbours, the half-breeds, began to show a disposition 
to violence, and threatened to shoot our hunter Bollen- 
aud's horse, and himself, too, if he did not desist from 
running the buffaloe ; at the same time they told me 
that if I did not prevent him from so doing they would 
go in a body on horseback, drive the cattle away and 
cause my people to starve. 

In the month of March, Messrs. Fraser and Hesse 
arrived at my neighbour's house, which gave us great 

* One of the settlers and superintendent of the settlement at 
Red River in the winter of 1815 and 1816. 

59 



uneasiness, as Fraser ^represented as the leader of the 
half-breeds, and that he was a daring and violent man. 
On his arrival he sent a threatening message to one of 
my hunters, and whenever an opportunity offered he was 
very assiduous in his endeavors to seduce from us our 
servants and settlers ; likewise, a report was very cur- 
rent that a party of half-breeds and Cree Indians were 
expected to arrive from Fort des Prairies, on the Sas- 
katchawan River, as soon as the melting of the snow 
would admit of their traveling, and the language of 
every free Canadian we saw was " Luefiez vous bien 
pour I'amour de Dieu ; mefiez vous bien." 

At the same time we were informed that the half- 
breeds of the North-West Company who were then in the 
plains were ordered home to their house. This assemblage 
of those men gave the most serious apprehension for the 
safety of the settlers and those servants who were 
employed to bring provisions from the plains to the 
fort. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



III II I 



017 464 842 6 • 



